Big Damn Project

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The Checker was quiet, the hum of the engine making up most of the conversation in the car. Ty pulled off the highway at the Java exit. Bryan leaned against the window, watching the dark suburbs slide past them, pools of light from street lamps bringing forward half a car, a knocked over trash can, a discarded newspaper. Ty stopped at a red light. She looked over at Bryan, and rubbed his shoulder.

“More than you expected, huh?” Ty said.

Bryan slumped in his seat, his hands folded over his stomach. “It wasn’t like on TV. God, that sounds really stupid, but… I dunno. I thought I’d go in and help and I’d come out feeling new and have this better sense of what I have and I do.”

“But…” The light turned green, and Ty pushed the car forward.

“I don’t deserve it. I don’t have the right to say I deserve more than the people I served tonight. All I could think about was all the food I’ve ever thrown away at lunch, and I don’t understand why I have the right to do that.”

Ty kept her eyes forward. She reached down and took his hand in hers.

“Why,” he continued, his voice lower, “do I get to have a Thanksgiving dinner in a warm house with people who love me, while someone else has to have it in a soup kitchen?”

“It’s not your fault,” Ty said.

“But it kind of is,” Bryan said, sitting up in his seat. “I mean, this is all because of the human exodus in the Sixties. The city was in bad shape, and instead of making it better, everyone left. We could have done something about it.”

“We? We weren’t alive then.”

“I mean, collectively. We all go hide in the suburbs, and only go to the city for work of if there’s a baseball game. And we don’t talk to the humans down there, because our parents have taught us that they’re bad people, and the furs are worse. And, I mean, this is all coming from…”

Bryan stopped. He pulled his jaw shut and watched out the window. His ears dropped with his shoulders, and he sighed a low, defeated sigh.

Ty squeezed his hand. “We shouldn’t ignore it.”

“We shouldn’t.”

“What are we going to do about it?”

Bryan kept his eyes on street outside. “I dunno. No one at Cherrywood gives a shit. They’d all think it’s socialism, and socialism is baaaad.”

“I bet we could find a few people. And the Collective is always interested in helping.”

Bryan rested his head on the window and disappeared into the night, counting the sentry-like street lights on the side of the road. Travelling at night was always his favorite way to travel, if he had to. The world is different at night. There are different cars on the road, different people in shops, different jobs to be performed. Nocturnal animals, street cleaners and road crews, come out. The world under a dark sky was the closest thing Bryan knew he could get to magic.

“I’m glad Bourbon and Farly are OK,” Ty said. Bryan came back to the car.

“Yeah. It’d suck if they broke up.” He stretched, cracking his neck. “Well, the only thing left is for Jon to come back.”

“Ha. You think?”

“Sure,” Bryan said. “It’d be like that crappy move where that kid is home alone on Christmas Eve, and in the end, his mom shows up because she hitch-hiked across the country, and then the family also shows up. And everyone is so happy to see their family member again that they forgot about their criminal negligence, and the years of therapy the kid will need staving off the separation anxiety.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that. It’ll be a wonderful cliché.” Bryan shifted in his seat. “Uhm… could you drop me at home?”

“Are you sure?” Ty glanced over at him quickly.

“I should.” He opened his mouth, ready to finish that thought, but he couldn’t find the right way to. “I should.”

“A wonderful cliché?”

“Only if I bring the turkey.”

Ty laughed. “OK.” She turned onto her street, her house a few blocks away. Bryan watched where they were driving now, something that usually drove him nuts. But he seemed excited, ready for something new. Ty knew he was just that close to bouncing in his seat.

“Hey!” Bryan pointed to the sidewalk ahead. There was a backpacker walking down the path. He trudged steadily through the snow, his tail brushing a path behind him. He was likely cold, but he looked determined to get to wherever he was going, hunched against the weight of his pack. Ty pulled the car up next to him. Bryan rolled down his window.

“Hi!” He said, hanging out his window. “You’re going to come with us.”

Ty leaned over Bryan. “Your biggest fan is awaiting your audience. NOW GET IN.”

The backpacker sighed, put his gear in the back seat, and slid in. Ty pushed the car towards home.

Bryan turned back to their passenger, smiling wildly. “You don’t have a turkey, do you? Cause Ty and I have this thing going…”

[g]

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Tags: 7 days, 7days, anthro, bryan, fiction, furry, glbt, high school, lgbt, serial, teen, teenagers, ty, web fiction, YA